SC3™ Process: NGT’s Revolutionary Patented Technology

As the semiconductor industry develops processes for narrow nodes, the key challenges that emerge in cleaning bare silicon wafers, masks, and device wafers—both for front- and back-end-of line operations—are fragile device structures that require stringent cleaning processes.

NGT has changed the paradigm process for cleaning wafers by establishing a radical new green process—SC3.

Current cleaning methods, SC-1 and SC-2, etch and damage the devices, causing surface roughness and loss of topography, and are not environment friendly; in addition, the particles are deposited back onto the surface.

In contrast to SC-1 and SC-2, SC3 cleans wafer surfaces in an environmentally friendly process. SC3 uses ultra dilute (next to zero) chemistry, so waste treatment and volatile organic compound (VOC) measurements are simply not required.

SC3 is the most advanced clean, green, and renewable cleaning process available in the semiconductor industry today.

• SC3 does not rely on surface etching to remove particles, but uses photonic energy to create clusters that remove particles and metal ion contamination, without changing the surface roughness of devices.

• SC3 essentially requires no chemicals, except DI water, ammonia gas, and nitrogen/oxygen.

• SC3 uses a charged solution (defined as “activation”) to form clusters that attract particles at the molecular level, as particle “scavengers.”

NGT worked closely with one of the world’s largest silicon manufacturers to demonstrate the effectiveness of SC3 on particles below 45nm. PRE results showed that SC3 met the current base line, and in some cases slightly exceeded current PRE, with significant improvement of surface roughness.

You can use NGT’s charged solution (iMACS™) for single or batch wafer processing to clean wafers at any point in the fab.